Curse of Egypt by Dora Benley will be free on Amazon starting tomorrow.

Sondra returns from a day out with her Dad in Charlottesville, Virginia where she lives with her mother and grandmother. Her dad asks her as always if she wants to come and live with him in Tucson. She says as usual that her mother and grandmother depend on her. They discuss why her parents got divorced. Her father confesses as usual that he doesn’t know. Her mother just left one day without explanation and took Sondra with her.

Sondra rushes into the house to plant a bare root rose. Her mother and grandmother depend on her to do the yardwork, too. But while she is digging in the backyard she comes upon a strange golden object. Her next door neighbor, Stew Hoolihan, says it looks like a museum piece and they ought to call the police.

Immediately when she goes inside her mother says that she has called her father and agreed that Sondra should indeed live with him in Tucson. Sondra cannot figure out why. Does it have to do with the golden object found in the backyard? What do her mother and grandmother know about it? What are they concealing from her? Sondra had better find out. It soon becomes a matter of life and death. Ancient civilizations from long before she was born are helping to determine her fate.

If you liked Curse of Egypt you will enjoy other novels by Dora Benley such as Cleopatra’s Stone, Caesar and Cleopatra: A Novel, Medea: the Witch, Minotaur, and Helen of Troy.

What happened yesterday in Charlottesville makes no sense unless perhaps you look at what I call the “underside” of Charlottesville which rarely attracts attention and which most people who never lived there never find out about. It is not the Charlottesville of Thomas Jefferson and the Enlightenment, the Charlottesville of the Virginia Doctrine of Religious Freedom. It is far more southern, mysterious, and dark than that.

Charlottesville “sat out” the American Civil War. There was only the Battle of Rio Hill which was only a skirmish and was then out of town north of the city. Now it is in the urban ring of the county right where they built an elementary school and a shopping center. Artifacts from the battle were displayed in a glass case outside one of the stores. Professors from the University of Virginia surrendered the city at the end of the war. This is not a big Confederate town. It was not the kind of town where you would see a lot of Confederate flags displayed etc. (We saw far more driving through Tennessee two years ago!)
The place where the “demonstration” took place I think is at the end of West Main Street on the way to the downtown pedestrian mall area. I remember that a statue of Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson seemed to be right in the middle of the street practically. It was very crowded, a bad area for a demonstration to begin with. But the West Main Street Area right before the Downtown Mall where they used to have an old Vinegar Hill Movie Theater was dark and not well lighted. A University of Virginia girl went missing in the same area just a couple of years ago. Her body was later found brutally murdered and left by the side of the road. Some years before that the very same thing happened, another missing murdered girl. I understand that at least one of the demonstrators was murdered there, too. It is almost as if some unidentified dark spirit haunts the area and brings bad luck to whoever enters it. I remember walking through the area late one Friday night in September or early October with my husband right after we moved there. Fortunately we didn’t know about the legends then, and we hurried through unmolested.

I understand that they were going to move the Robert E. Lee statue to a park north of town, probably Penn Park on 29 North. That would be a far better fate for the statue of the head of the southern forces during the Civil War than West Main Street. It would also help to bring better luck to the whole town of Charlottesville and all those who inhabit it.

Charlottesville is a setting where I have set many of my young adult thriller and supernatural novels such as the upcoming thriller by Dora Benley called Curse of Egypt. You can see why.

What new books is Cheops Books LLC publishing in the autumn of 2017? Here is our line up for the new few months from September through December. Every month a new book will appear.

On September 15 Cheops Books LLC will publish the young adult thriller Dark 3: Special Edition including new black and white drawings by artist Andrew. You will be able to see what all the major and a few minor characters look like from good guys to bad guys and villains.
Bianca mourns for her old friend Doc who helped her overcome her fear of the dark after being the only witness to a brutal murder on St. Simons Island. He was driven out of town two years ago when the locals concluded that he must be the killer. She last saw him parachuting from a plane escaping from the law, a fall he couldn’t have survived. She’s moved to California with her employers, the Shipleys, and taken on a permanent babysitting position with Little Katie. Suddenly there’s a kidnapping attempt on the rich little heiress that Bianca is employed to protect. To the rescue comes a tall, dark young man who reminds her of somebody she’s lost. But it just couldn’t be . . . After all, he’s dead. And after all . . . he’s supposed to be the bad guy.

On October 15 Cheops Books LLC will publish Hitler’s Agent, volume six in the Edward Ware Thrillers at War Series.

The villainess, Helga von Wessel, Hitler’s chief spy, struts boldly from page to page of this thriller with Europe at her back and all sorts of ambitious notions in her head during the lead up to WW2. As far as she is concerned it isn’t Hitler’s Reich. It is Helga’s Reich. She will wrap the hero, Colonel Sir Edward Ware, Churchill’s spy, around her little finger to prove it. Nor does it matter what Edward’s American wife, Dora, says.

On November 15 Cheops Books LLC will publish Dark: A Trilogy, a collection of three young adult thriller novels in the Dark Series: Dark 1, Dark 2, and Dark 3: Special Edition. Teenager Bianca Winters had no idea what was in store for her in the next few years when she took on a babysitting assignment across the street with Little Katie Shipley. That night her whole life was to change forever as a killer roamed around in the dark upstairs. She had to save the baby while the housekeeper, Mrs. Ingersoll, fell to her death.

In the months that followed the murder, Bianca comes under the wing of her new medical advisor, Doc, who helps her recover from the horrible experience. She falls in love with the young man only to have doubt cast on his motives by circumstances that hint that he himself is the killer. When he goes on the run, she has to still believe in him somehow. How could she love a murderer?

Katie Shipley’s parents move to California and take Bianca with them as her live in babysitter. Bianca thinks that Doc is dead, killed trying to escape from the authorities. But then just as a strange gentleman from England appears and tries to kidnap Little Katie, a young man who reminds her of the one she has lost materializes in her life again. He shows her what has really been going on all these years behind the scenes, why Mrs. Ingersoll was killed, and what the bad guys want with Little Katie. The trilogy ends with the biggest surprise ending of all time.
And finally on December 15 Cheops Books LLC will publish Captive at the Berghof part 1 in German translation, the first such work in a foreign language. This is the third volume of the Edward Ware Thrillers at War Series. Hitler has found out about Colonel Sir Edward Ware’s secret undercover activities for Winston Churchill, and he’s playing hardball. He kidnaps Thomasina, Edward’s daughter, and won’t give the child back unless Edward and his wife, Dora, hand over the key to world domination – the Lawrence maps. They’d better do something fast before Thomasina truly becomes Hitler’s daughter.

Dark 3: Special Edition will be the first book that Cheops Books LLC publishes that will feature illustrations of the characters. On September 15 you, the readers, will get to admire the black and white drawings of Andrew the artist. He has visualized several of the major characters from the young adult thriller novel, Dark 3: Special Edition. You will get to see what the heroine, Bianca Winters, the one-time babysitter of Little Katie, looks like. Ditto the mysterious figure, Doc, who has haunted the entire Dark Series. You will get to see what the big bad guy, Mike Fellini, the jail breaker, looks like as he haunts the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula. He might be about ready to kidnap Little Katie once again. You get to look into the innocent baby blue eyes of the heiress, the four-year-old little girl, Katie Shipley, whom Bianca loves to babysit. You even get to study Mrs. Baker, the ultimate villainess of Dark 3: Special Edition, as she tries to hoodwink the Shipleys and Bianca to fall for her bag of tricks. These illustrations will be sprinkled throughout the special edition. Look for them there.
Teens rarely need an excuse to stay up late, but The Dark by Dora Benley would give pause for thought to even the most steely nerved youngster. A genuinely gripping horror story. Approach with caution.
The Sunday Independent Dublin, Ireland

Richard 1: A Novelby Dora Benley is free to download on Amazon Kindle starting today and continuing for the next five days. It is all part of a special promotion. But hurry! The promotion won’t be repeated this year!
Elizabeth is a lady in waiting to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine during the time of her confinement at Salisbury Castle. Queen Eleanor is a woman of remarkable powers, some say dark powers. Elizabeth learns to be a witch from her and takes up the lore of gathering herbs in the woods. The Queen then directs her to accompany her newly crowned son, King Richard I, to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade. She is to protect him against all evil, especially the scheming of Prince John, the new king’s brother, who wants to crown himself in his stead.
Elizabeth sails to the Holy Land to take up battle with the infidel. But she finds herself in an unexpected quandary. Instead of King John the enemy kidnaps her and threatens to put her into a Middle Eastern harem. They threaten to take her away from the man, King Richard I, whom she is sworn to protect and defend. But in the oddest fashion of all, she finds herself falling in love with her captor, a Saracen. What is Elizabeth to do? She cannot forget her oath to the Queen. But she also cannot betray her own heart.

If you enjoyed Richard 1: A Novel you will like other young adult novels by Dora Benley including Livia: A Novel, Julia: A Novel, Julius Caesar : A Novel, Book of the Dead, Minotaur, and Helen of Troy.

Elizabeth is a lady in waiting to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine during the time of her confinement at Salisbury Castle. Queen Eleanor is a woman of remarkable powers, some say dark powers. Elizabeth learns to be a witch from her and takes up the lore of gathering herbs in the woods. The Queen then directs her to accompany her newly crowned son, King Richard I, to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade. She is to protect him against all evil, especially the scheming of Prince John, the new king’s brother, who wants to crown himself in his stead.

Elizabeth sails to the Holy Land to take up battle with the infidel. But she finds herself in an unexpected quandary. Instead of King John the enemy kidnaps her and threatens to put her into a Middle Eastern harem. They threaten to take her away from the man, King Richard I, whom she is sworn to protect and defend. But in the oddest fashion of all, she finds herself falling in love with her captor, a Saracen. What is Elizabeth to do? She cannot forget her oath to the Queen. But she also cannot betray her own heart.

Here we have the final cover for Dark: A Trilogy by Dora Benley to be published by Cheops Books LLC on November 15. The cover was designed and drawn by Andrew the artist. It will be included in the small press issue to be published by Publisher’s Weekly, the trade journal, on Monday, August 28 along with other books by IBPA members. See it there. We will feature it on our website on the day that the magazine is published including a link.

Teenager Bianca Winters had no idea what was in store for her in the next few years when she took on a babysitting assignment across the street with Little Katie Shipley. That night her whole life was to change forever as a killer roamed around in the dark upstairs. She had to save the baby while the housekeeper, Mrs. Ingersoll, fell to her death.

In the months that followed the murder, Bianca comes under the wing of her new medical advisor, Doc, who helps her recover from the horrible experience. She falls in love with the young man only to have doubt cast on his motives by circumstances that hint that he himself is the killer. When he goes on the run, she has to still believe in him somehow. How could she love a murderer?

Katie Shipley’s parents move to California and take Bianca with them as her live in babysitter. Bianca thinks that Doc is dead, killed trying to escape from the authorities. But then just as a strange gentleman from England appears and tries to kidnap Little Katie, a young man who reminds her of the one she has lost materializes in her life again. He shows her what has really been going on all these years behind the scenes, why Mrs. Ingersoll was killed, and what the bad guys want with Little Katie. The trilogy ends with the biggest surprise ending of all time.

Doc and Bianca are featured on the new proposed cover for Dark: a Trilogy with the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco at night time lighted up in the background. The three book young adult series will be published by Cheops Books LLC on November 15. The publication date has been moved up by one month.

Teenager Bianca Winters had no idea what was in store for her in the next few years when she took on a babysitting assignment across the street with Little Katie Shipley. That night her whole life was to change forever as a killer roamed around in the dark upstairs. She had to save the baby while the housekeeper, Mrs. Ingersoll, fell to her death.

In the months that followed the murder, Bianca comes under the wing of her new medical advisor, Doc, who helps her recover from the horrible experience. She falls in love with the young man only to have doubt cast on his motives by circumstances that hint that he himself is the killer. When he goes on the run, she has to still believe in him somehow. How could she love a murderer?
Katie Shipley’s parents move to California and take Bianca with them as her live in babysitter. Bianca thinks that Doc is dead, killed trying to escape from the authorities. But then just as a strange gentleman from England appears and tries to kidnap Little Katie, a young man who reminds her of the one she has lost materializes in her life again. He shows her what has really been going on all these years behind the scenes, why Mrs. Ingersoll was killed, and what the bad guys want with Little Katie. The trilogy ends with the biggest surprise ending of all time.

Livia: A Novel will be on free promotion on Amazon Kindle for the next five days starting tomorrow, Tuesday, August 1. It is still another in a line of Greek and Roman novels for young adults by Dora Benley. But hurry! The promotion will not be repeated this year. Enjoy the new cover by Jean-Baptiste Wicar, a painting from the Art Institute of Chicago.

In Livia: A Novel, Livia has just returned from her search to find her fiance, Octavius, heir of Julius Caesar, in the wake of Caesar’s assassination. Octavius has fled Rome, and she was trying to save his life. She gets captured by pirates for all her trouble. When she finally catches up with her fiance she can no longer marry him. She learns that her own family, the Claudians, were behind Julius Caesar’s assassination. She can be Octavius’s mistress and nothing more. A proud girl, she spurns the thought and figure she must give him up for good.

Livia describes herself in her diary at this sad impasse:

“I can just imagine what I looked like: long coils of black hair curled in ringlets plas­tered all over my face, my neck, my bosom, and my shoulders — pasted on by dried salt and brine. A red silk dress clinging to my figure and slipping down over one shoulder a bit too far. Here and there still a jeweled earring or ankle bracelet poking through as a sad legacy from my other life. Looking all together like a prow ornament that had been fished up from the depths after some long ago shipwreck.”

At this low point of her life Livia would be surprised to learn that she will somebody marry the man she loves and stay married to him for 52 years. It will become one of the most legendary matches in Roman history and one of the most historically important, too. Just how this comes about is the story of this piece of fiction: Livia: A Novel by Dora Benley, another one of this author’s ancient Greek and Roman novels. If you liked this story about ancient Rome for young adults, this novel about Livia and Augustus, you will also like Book of the Dead, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra’s Stone, Caesar and Cleopatra: A Novel, Julia: A Novel, Julius Caesar: A Novel, Medea the Witch, and Jason and Medea: A Novel.

On September 15 Cheops Books LLC will publish Dark 3: Special Edition, the concluding volume of the Dark Series started by Scholastic UK. It is a fitting ending to Dark 1 and Dark 2 and lets you know what finally happened to all those YA characters such as Bianca Winters and Doc and their doomed love affair. Does she finally marry Harry Fellini or what? Does Little Katie, the heiress of St Simons Island finally escape to some place where she doesn’t get kidnapped? What about her wealthy parents, the Shipleys? And what happens to the low life of St. Simons Island such as Marianna Haynes, who was always after Bianca, or even Harry Fellini’s jailbird brother, Mike Fellini?

And when all these loose plot ends finally get decided for good, what about the long promised trilogy: Dark: A Trilogy? Why not publish the Dark as a series? Dark: A Trilogy will be published on December 15. We here at Cheops Books LLC even have a brand new cover in mind. We don’t have the final drawing yet. But we have a rough sketch which we will share with you today along with this blog post. We are about ready to hand it over to Andrew the artist to put his finishing touches on it.